Editing Child marriage (section)

==History==
[[File:'Princess Emilia of Saxony', by Hans Krell (about 1530) Liverpool museums.jpg|thumb|In 1533, 17-year-old Princess [[Emilia of Saxony]] was wed to [[George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach|George the Pious, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach]], then aged 48 years. Early marriages have been common in historical times, including in Europe.]]
[[File:Presentation of the portrait of Maria Antonia of Austria (Marie Antoinette) to Louis Auguste, Dauphin of France in front of Louis XV and the court at Versailles.jpg|thumb|Presentation of [[Marie Antoinette]] to Dauphin [[Louis XVI|Louis Auguste]] at [[Versailles]], before their marriage – she was at age 15, he was 16 – on 16 May 1770]]
Prior to the [[Industrial Revolution]], women around the world were often married at an early age, usually soon after reaching [[puberty]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dukakis |first=Andrea |title=Child Marriage, Common In The Past, Persists Today |url=https://www.cpr.org/show-segment/child-marriage-common-in-the-past-persists-today/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Colorado Public Radio |date=4 April 2017 |language=en}}</ref> These practices carried over well into the 19th century in societies with largely rural populations.<ref name="Brown3140">{{Cite book|first=Jonathan A.C. |last=Brown| author-link = Jonathan A.C. Brown | year=2015 | title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy|publisher=Oneworld Publications (Kindle edition)|pages=3140–3150 (Kindle locations)}}</ref> Men tended to marry later in societies where a married couple was expected to establish a household of their own. This encouraged men to remain unmarried until they accumulated sufficient wealth to support a new home and marry adolescent girls.<ref name="Crone2747">{{cite book|author=Patricia Crone|title=Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World|publisher=Oneworld (Kindle Edition)|year=2015|page=2747 (Kindle loc.)}}</ref>

In many ancient and [[medieval]] societies, it was common for girls to be betrothed at or even before the age of puberty.<ref name="laiou93">[[Angeliki Laiou]] (1993), ''Coercion to sex and marriage in ancient and medieval societies'', Washington, DC, pages 85–190</ref><ref>Ross Kraemer (1993), ''The Jewish Family in Antiquity'', Scholars Press (Atlanta), pages 82–110</ref> According to Mordechai A. Friedman, "arranging and contracting the marriage of a young girl were the undisputed prerogatives of her father in [[Ancient Israel]]." Most girls were married before the age of 15, often at the start of puberty.<ref name="friedman80">{{Cite journal |last=Gil |first=Moshe |date=1985 |editor-last=Friedman |editor-first=M. A. |title=Friedman's "Jewish Marriage in Palestine" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1453880?origin=crossref |journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=149–151 |doi=10.2307/1453880 |issn=0021-6682}}</ref> It has been claimed that in the Middle Ages, marriage took place around puberty throughout the [[Jewish]] world.<ref>Steven M. Lowenstein: ''The Jewish Cultural Tapestry: International Jewish Folk Traditions'', p. 108. Oxford, 2002.</ref>

[[Ruth Lamdan]] writes, "The numerous references to child marriage in the 16th-century [[Responsa in Judaism|Responsa]] literature and other sources shows that child marriage was so common, it was virtually the norm. In this context, it is important to remember that in [[halakha]], the term "minor" refers to a girl under twelve years and a day old. A girl aged twelve and a half was considered an adult in all respects."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=מלמד |first=רינה לוין |last2=Melamed |first2=Renée Levine |date=2001 |title=Review of A Separate People: Jewish Women in Palestine, Syria and Egypt in the Sixteenth Century |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23564381 |journal=Zion / ציון |volume=סו |issue=ד |pages=543–546 |issn=0044-4758}}</ref>

In [[Ancient Greece]], early marriage and teenage motherhood for girls existed.<ref>Nancy Demand (1994), ''Birth, Death, and Motherhood in Classical Greece'', Johns Hopkins University Press, pages 101–104</ref> Boys were also expected to marry in their teens. In the [[Roman Empire]], girls were married at the age of 12 and boys from the age of 14.<ref name=ncbi>{{cite journal |title=Early Teen Marriage and Future Poverty |pmc=3000061 |pmid=20879684|volume=47 |issue=3 |year=2010|pages=689–718 |last1=Dahl |first1=GB |journal=Demography |doi=10.1353/dem.0.0120}}</ref> In the [[Middle Ages]], under English [[Civil law (legal system)|civil laws]] derived from Roman laws, marriages before the age of 16 existed. In [[Imperial China]], child marriage was the norm.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saito |first1=O. |year=1996 |title=Historical demography: achievements and prospects |journal=Population Studies |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=537–553 |doi=10.1080/0032472031000149606 |pmid=11618380}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhao |first1=Z. |year=1997 |title=Demographic systems in historic China: some new findings from recent research |journal=Journal of the Australian Population Association |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=201–232 |doi=10.1007/BF03029340 |pmid=12322104 |bibcode=1997JAuPA..14..201Z |s2cid=8006287 }}</ref>

In contrast to other pre-modern societies—and for reasons that are subject to debate—[[Northwestern Europe|Northwest Europe]] was characterized by [[Western European marriage pattern|relatively late marriages]] for both men and women, with both sexes commonly delaying marriage until their mid-20s, although the very wealthy, especially aristocrats, married earlier, but they were a minority of the population.<ref>{{cite book |last=Levine |first=David |year=1977 |title=Family Formation in an Age of Nascent Capitalism |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-445050-9 |page=152 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hajnal |first=John |year=1965 |chapter=European marriage pattern in historical perspective |editor-first=D. V. |editor-last=Glass |editor2-first=D.E.C. |editor2-last=Eversley |title=Population in History |url=https://archive.org/details/populationinhist0000glas |url-access=registration |publisher=Arnold |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/populationinhist0000glas/page/101 101–143]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Coontz |first=Stephanie |year=2005 |title=Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage |location=New York, New York |publisher=Viking Press, Penguin Group |isbn=978-0-670-03407-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/marriagehistoryf00coon/page/125 125–129] |url=https://archive.org/details/marriagehistoryf00coon/page/125 }}</ref> The data available for England suggest this was the case by the 14th century. The pattern was reflected in [[English law|English Common Law]], which was the first in Western Europe to establish statutory [[rape laws]] and ages of consent for marriage. In 1275, sexual relations with girls under either 12 or 14 (depending on the interpretation of the sources) were criminalized; a second law with more severe punishments for those under the age of 10 was enacted in 1576. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the British colonial administration introduced marriage age restrictions for Hindu and Muslim girls in the Indian subcontinent.<ref name=Brown3140/>

A Scottish physician living in 18th century [[Syria]] reported that locals tried to contract marriages for their children at a young age, but the marriage was not consummated until the girl "had come of age". Evidence from 19th century Levant, (now Israel and Palestine) suggests that husbands often initiated sexual relations before their wives reached puberty, but that it was a disapproved occurrence, condemned socially and censured by [[sharia]] courts. Writing in the 1830s, [[Edward William Lane]] observed that few Egyptian girls remained single by the age of 16, but socioeconomic transformation, educational reform, and modernity brought significant changes. By 1920, less than 10% of Egyptian women married before the age of 20. In 1923, Egypt's parliament set the minimum age of marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Jonathan A.C. |last=Brown| author-link = Jonathan A.C. Brown | year=2015 | title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy|publisher=Oneworld Publications (Kindle edition)|pages=3120–3160(Kindle location)}}</ref>

For the latter half of the 19th century, between 13 and 18% of native-born white female first marriages in the United States were of girls under the age of 18.<ref name=Fitch%Ruggles2000>{{Cite book|last1=Fitch|first1=Catherine |last2=Ruggles|first2=Steven| contribution=Historical trends in marriage formation: The United States 1850–1990|editor-last1=Waite|editor-first1=Linda J. |editor-last2=Bachrach|editor-first2=Christine|title=The Ties that Bind: Perspectives on Marriage and Cohabitation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lEb-ic22xKwC|date=2000| publisher = Transaction Publishers|pages=59–88|isbn=9781412839365 |language=en}}</ref>